All 7 Uses of
attribute
in
Freakonomics
- These theories were not only logical; they were also encouraging, for they attributed the crime drop to specific and recent human initiatives.†
p. 3.4 *attributed = credited (pointed to a source for something)
- A dramatic one-year spike in test scores might initially be attributed to a good teacher; but with a dramatic fall to follow, there's a strong likelihood that the spike was brought about by artificial means.
p. 26.9attributed = credited (pointed to as the cause of something)
- His collection rate was about 95 percent; he attributed the underpayment to oversight, not fraud.†
p. 44.6attributed = credited (pointed to a source for something)
- Bear in mind that these figures represent not only lynchings attributed to the Ku Klux Klan but the total number of reported lynchings.
p. 56.8attributed = credited (pointed to as the cause of something)
- It feels less Darwinian than Swiftian; it calls to mind a long-ago dart attributed to G. K. Chesterton: when there aren't enough hats to go around, the problem isn't solved by lopping off some heads.
p. 142.3
- Both these words seem to be real-estate agent code for a house that doesn't have many specific attributes worth describing.†
p. 72.6
- And how much of his fate should each boy attribute to his parents?†
p. 157.9
Definitions:
-
(1)
(attribute as in: It is an attribute of...) a characteristic or feature (of something or someone)
-
(2)
(attribute as in: I attribute it to...) to credit (a source for something)in two typical senses:
- "I attribute it to her work." -- to say who or what made something happen
- "Remember to attribute any quotations in your paper." -- indicate the source of a quotation or idea